THE ENFIELD POLTERGEIST
This case became known as a perfect example of a poltergeist haunting which
began as genuine... and devolved into trickery, thanks to media attention and
the imagination of two little girls.

The case began in Enfield, in North London, in a perfectly ordinary suburban
townhouse. It was occupied by a woman named Peggy Harper and her four
children; Rose, age 13; Janet, age 11; Pete, age 10; and Jimmy, age 7. The
disturbances which would make this house famous began on the night of August
30, 1977, shortly after Janet and Pete retired to the bedroom they shared. The
other children slept with their mother in another room of the small home.

The activity was first reported by Janet to her mother. She stated that
their beds began bouncing up and down and "going all funny". By the
time that Peggy got to the room, the movements had stopped, leading her to
believe that perhaps the children were making it all up. All remained quiet
for the rest of the night, but the following evening, the events began in
earnest.

Around 9:30 the following night, Peggy was called to Janet and Peteís room
by their excited laughter. This time, they claimed to hear noises coming from
the floor. Janet said that it sounded like a chair moving, so Peggy took the
only chair with her out of the room and downstairs. She believed this would
calm the children down and get them settled for the night. Then, from
downstairs, she too heard something odd. It was the same shuffling sound that
Janet had mentioned. She hurried up to their room but found both children
lying in their beds asleep.

Then, four distinct knocks were heard from the wall which adjoined the
neighboring house. This prompted Peggy to turn the lights on once more, but
she saw nothing out of the ordinary. Then, a heavy chest of drawers moved out
away from the wall about a foot and a half. Peggy shoved it back again, but
the chest moved back to its former position. The next time she tried to shove
it into place, the chest refused to budge! Shaking with fear, the family left
the house and went next door to the neighborís house. The neighbors
investigated, as did the police.

The officers also reported hearing the knocking sounds, now coming from all
different walls. One of the officers was in the living room when a chair
suddenly slid several feet across the floor. He examined it closely, but could
find no explanation as to how it had moved.

The next day brought more phenomena, like flying toys. The police were
unable to help, so the Harpers and their neighbors turned to the press. The
Daily Mirror sent out a photographer and a reporter, who stayed in the house
for several hours. Nothing happened during their stay, until just as they got
ready to leave. Suddenly, both men were assaulted with flying marbles and Lego
bricks. A piece of a Lego flew across the room and hit the photographer so
hard that it left a bruise which lasted over a week.

The newspaper contacted the Society for Psychical Research about the case and
they in turn, contacted Maurice Grosse, a resident of North London and an
investigator. Grosse arrived at the Harper house on September 5, exactly one
week after the disturbances began. His presence seemed to have a calming
effect on the family and for a few days, nothing out of the ordinary occurred.

Then, on the night of September 8, Grosse and three reporters were keeping
watch when they heard a crash in Janetís bedroom. Investigation showed that
her bedside chair had been thrown about four feet across the room. Janet was
asleep at the time and no one had seen the chair move. However, it did happen
again an hour later... and this time one of the photographers captured the
event on film!

Shortly after this, Grosse was joined in the investigation by author Guy Lyon
Playfair and the two men spent the next two years studying the case.

The case had a couple of aspects in common with standard poltergeist cases,
including the involvement of two adolescent girls. In this case, one had
already gone through puberty and another was about to. The case also had
another feature typical of such cases, personal tension. Peggy had never
altogether resolved her feelings surrounding her divorce from the childrenís
father. After she realized this might have something to do with the phenomena,
she came to term with her volatile emotions and the disturbances ceased.

Or rather, they took a short
break. When they started up again, they had a somewhat different
character. Now, more than ever, they seemed to focus on the two girls,
Janet and Rose, and on Janetís bedroom. Investigators quickly came
to the opinion that this new phenomena was more the work of human
trickery than the work of a human agent. Two SPR investigators later
revealed that reports from the two girls, usually unsubstantiated,
seemed very contrived.

Some of the alleged activity had the girls
literally "flying" out of their beds at night

In addition, a video camera secretly set up in the bedroom caught Janet
bending spoons and attempting to bend an iron bar in an entirely normal
manner. She was also seen bouncing up and down on the bed, from where she
would later claim she was thrown.

Despite how this case concluded, there seems to be some strong evidence to say
that the initial disturbances in the house were genuinely paranormal.

THE TINA RESCH CASEIn 1984, a Columbus, Ohio family was plagued by another case of poltergeist
phenomena and in spite the claims of skeptics, many researchers believe this
was a classic case of genuine activity... at least for a time.

John and Joan Resch first attracted publicity in late 1983 when a reporter
from a local newspaper, the Columbus Dispatch, came to their home to chronicle
the coupleís extraordinary work with foster children. Over the years, the
couple had taken in more than 250 homeless and disturbed children. At the time
the article was written, the family consisted of John and Joan, their son,
Craig, their adopted daughter, Tina, and four foster children.

Five months later, the Resch family would be in the news again. Apparently,
their 14-year old daughter Tina had become the focus for a strange and very
frightening series of events. On a Saturday morning in March 1984, all of the
lights in the Resch home suddenly went on all at once, even though no one had
touched a switch. John and Joan assumed the incident had been triggered by a
power surge and they telephone the local utility company. It was suggested
that they call an electrician, which they did. An electrical contractor named
Bruce Claggett came to the house, thinking that it was merely a problem with a
circuit breaker. He was unable to keep the lights from turninff on. Claggett
even tried taping the light switches so that they stayed on. Closet lights
which operated with a pull string would be turned out, but seconds later, the
bulbs would be glowing again. Claggett finally gave up, unable to explain what
was going on.

By evening, stranger things were being reported like lamps, brass candlesticks
and clocks flying through the air; wine glasses shattering; the shower running
on its own; and eggs, rising out of the carton by themselves and then smashing
against the ceiling; knives were flying from drawers; and more. A rattling
wall picture was placed behind the couch, only to slide back out again three
different times.

As the weekend wore on, a pattern began to develop. The intensity and focus of
the activity seemed to be Tina, who was even struck by a number of the
objects. A chair was seen tumbling across the floor in Tinaís direction and
it was only stopped from hitting her because it became wedged in a doorway.
The fact that Tina was the object of the activity is important. Family
members, neighbors and unrelated witnesses actually saw Tina being hit and
smacked by flying objects, which came from parts of the room where she was not
located!

Near midnight on Saturday, the Columbus police were summoned to the house but
there was nothing they could do. The only respite from the strange events came
on Sunday, when Tina left the house for church and then again in the afternoon
when she went out to visit a friend. On Sunday evening, three elders from the
Mormon Church had been summoned by a relative and, laying their hands on Tinaís
head, attempted a prayer blessing to dispel the force which was creating havoc
in the house. Unfortunately, it didnít work.

By Monday morning, the house was a wreck and literally dozens of reliable
witnesses, including reporters, police officers, church officials and
neighbors, had reported unexplained phenomena in the Resch home.

During an interview, a
photographer snapped a photo of the telephone in action and was
printed in the newspaper the following day. The publication of the
photograph touched off a media furor. Television crews and newspaper
reporters from across the country descended on the Resch home, all
hoping to witness some other manifestation of the supernatural. The
newspaper reports also gained the attention of parapsychologist
William Roll, who flew to Columbus to see the events first-hand.

While he was there, a picture flew from the wall in front of him and his
own tape recorder flew over seven feet under its own power. Roll was convinced
that RSPK was at work.

Skeptics werenít so sure and wisely began investigating the other
photographs on the roll of film shot by the photographer on Monday morning. In
one of the photos, Tinaís hands had clearly been in a position to have
manipulated the telephone cord and base. Soon, there was other damning
evidence as well. During an extended visit by television reporters, a camera
that had accidentally been left running recorded the girl grasping a table
lamp by its cord and jerking out toward her. At the same time, she let out a
cry of horror.

When confronted, Tina admitted that she had faked some of the later phenomena.
She explained that she had been bored by the lengthy interviews and irritated
by the constant attention. She hoped that the press would leave once they got
their story. For the skeptics, the film and the confession were proof positive
that the poltergeist had been Tina all along.

Yet not everyone shared that view, including the majority of the supposedly
skeptical journalists. Many of them remained sure they had witnessed genuine,
unexplained activity. They also pointed out that the skeptics had conveniently
forgotten (and isnít that normally the case?) about the scores of witnesses
who would swear that activity had been directed toward Tina, not originating
from her. William Roll, a trained scientist and observer, was also convinced
of phenomena that he witnessed. He conceded that he had not been observing
Tina under "controlled conditions", but continued to assert that
Tina seemed to have demonstrated authentic RSPK.

What caused the manifestations? Researchers believed that it was a case of
repressed anger and anxiety seeking release. Apparently, there had been recent
problems at home over the fact that Tina, against the wishes of John and Joan,
had recently been searching for her natural parents. Also, Tinaís best
friend of two years had ended their friendship just two days before the events
began. All of this apparently combined to create an outward transference of
energy. How exactly? We may never know.

For those who question whether or not, emotional problems can cause
poltergeist-like activity to take place should look at what happened to Tina
after the TV cameras and reporters went away. According to a 1993 report,
Tina, then 23-years old, was awaiting trial in Georgia for the murder of her
three-year old daughter. The child had been badly beaten and had died from
injuries to the head. What the outcome of the trial was, and whatever became
of Tina is unknown.

CHRISTINE M. CASE
Several years ago, I was contacted by a young woman who reported that strange
phenomena was occurring in her home. She was 18 years old at the time,
although the incidents had been taking place since she was 14. According to
her letters and follow-up calls, her house was very active and the phenomena
included doors opening and closing; cabinet doors banging open; dishes being
thrown about and broken; footsteps in the hallways at night; scratching sounds
and most disturbingly, violent physical assaults that were directed at
Christine. It was no uncommon for her to receive large bruises, cuts and
scratches from an invisible source.

After meeting with Christine and her family and arranging an investigation of
the house, I was contacted privately by her mother who explained that the
strange happenings had begun shortly after Christine became pregnant in high
school and starting having problems in school and with her friends. She became
even more stressed after having the baby and the events escalated. All of it
was centered, her mother explained, around Christine.

The investigation that was
conducted did seem to show that the activity revolved around her.
Although nothing was actually observed during the initial
investigations, we did hear slamming noises and doors closing in a
sealed-off section of the house. Kitchen cabinets were also seen
during unexplained movement. There was no one else present at the
time and we were unable to explain away the sounds. A follow-up trip
revealed the photo at the top and the globe of what seems to be energy
was actually observed by two investigators. No natural explanations
could be discovered for the photo.

A short time later, Christine began to see a psychologist and counseling
seemed to have a very positive effect on the situation. The strange phenomena
in the house began to dissipate and eventually stopped altogether. Her mother
reports that Christine is happy and well-adjusted today and there has been no
repetition of the phenomena.

Sources:
The Ghost Hunterís Guidebook by Troy Taylor (1999/ 2001)
The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits by Rosemary Ellen Guiley (1992)
Mind Over Matter editors of Time-Life Books (1988)
On the Trail of the Poltergeist by Nandor Fodor (1958)
On the Track of the Poltergeist by D. Scott Rogo (1986)
The Haunted House Handbook by D. Scott Rogo (1978)
The Haunted Universe by D. Scott Rogo (1977)
ESP, Hauntings and Poltergeists by Loyd Auerbach (1986)
The Poltergeist by William Roll (1972)
Poltergeist! A Study in Destructive Hauntings by Colin Wilson (1981)
Poltergeist over England by Harry Price (1945)
This House is Haunted by Guy Lyon Playfair (1980)
Poltergeists and the Paranormal by Dr. Phillip Stander and Dr. Paul Schmolling
(1996)
Aliens Above, Ghosts Below by Barry Taff (1997)
The Awful Thing in the Attic by Brad Steiger (1996)
The Poltergeist Phenomenon by John and Anne Spencer (1997)